A US-based rights group denounced Australia yesterday, saying Canberra should be "ashamed" for allegedly robbing East Timor of much-needed oil and gas revenues from the disputed seabed between the two nations.
Australia has been accused of pressuring East Timor into signing a temporary agreement that favors Canberra when it comes to divvying up oil fields in the Timor Sea.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard is visiting Washington this week.
East Timor leaders, desperate for any oil revenue, say they signed the deal believing it soon would be superceded once the two countries agree on their disputed maritime border. They now accuse Australia of dragging out the border negotiations.
In March, Australia ratified legislation giving it a majority stake in Greater Sunrise oil fields pending a new border agreement to replace the one it concluded with Indonesia's former dictator Suharto, who invaded East Timor in 1975 and ruled it with an iron fist for 24 years.
"Australia should be ashamed to continue to profit from this," said John Miller from the New York-based East Timor Action Network in a statement received yesterday.
Howard's policies "betray Australians' sense of fair play and legality when he justifies today's continuing occupation [of the oil fields] by citing Australian complicity with Indonesia's brutal invasion," Miller said. He urged Canberra to resolve the matter "quickly and legally."
In March, a group of US con-gressmen wrote to Howard urging him to establish a fair, permanent maritime boundary and an equitable sharing of the resources in the disputed oil field.
East Timor's legislators have yet to ratify the new agreement, complaining that their country was pressured into accepting the current temporary agreement that gives it only 18 percent of an expected US$30 billion in gas and oil revenues. They have also slammed Canberra for issuing exploration licenses in the disputed area.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS